


I Left the Light On, but You Can't Come Home

by Innocentfighter



Category: Green Lantern - All Media Types, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Canon Character of Color, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Crossover, Dimension Travel, F/M, Gen, Hal Jordan is Jewish, Implied/Referenced Character Death, It was Jim Kirk the entire time, It won't ruin the movie trust me you won't even notice them, Memory Alteration, Memory Splice, Mentioned Characters, Mind Swap, Minor Character Death, Minor Injuries, Minor Justice League 2017 spoilers, Parallax - Freeform, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel Fix-It, Transporter Malfunction, Willpower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 06:29:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12811659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Innocentfighter/pseuds/Innocentfighter
Summary: Hal Jordan was pulled into an alternate dimension thanks to Last Light, he lived with the weight of knowing that his universe and everyone he had loved was dead. In this new dimension he was slowly getting back to normal, trying to live his life as a crew member aboard the U.S.S Enterprise. He was getting better, healing. He wants to go home, but he's not sure where that is any more.





	I Left the Light On, but You Can't Come Home

**Author's Note:**

> Ever have that story that you're like, wow this is so very specific to my interests that no one is going to want to read it because, "what the heck?" Yeah, this is that story. I found the GL/ST crossover comics, liked them, and then was enabled because Chris Pine played Steve Trevor and I've been writing this since the trailer came out. First as a what could happen, but then when I actually saw the movie I scrapped the entire thing and this was born. Gratuitous amounts of Parallax, because Hal Dealing With Being Parallax (tm) is one of my favorite things to write because I was Robbed by Geoff Johns. Also Blackest Night, because there are very few things that can top and you get a very angsty Hal, which characterization wise isn't accurate, but makes a damn good Hal.  
> Anyway there's actual movie dialogue within this story, because I tried to stay as accurate as possible to the movie while giving it my own flair.  
> Un-betaed.  
> Enjoy!

Hal had dealt with a lot of weird things in his fairly short life, including but not limited to the end of his universe, getting abducted by jewelry multiple times, and living in what would technically be the future but it isn’t his. However, this whole incident topped the list of weird and he would have to reevaluate his stance on transporters. _McCoy could really be onto something._

He shook his head, Jim was unconscious and the plane they beamed into was crashing. Now, Hal was a damn good pilot and he could fly anything from his time and a Constellation class Starship, but those skills did not extend to the horse and buggy equivalent of planes. Hell, he could barely tell the start from the weapons switch.

His best option was to crash near any land in the fog bank. He hoped that he could lose the ones shooting at them before he crashed the plane. Maybe he wouldn’t kill himself and Jim in the process.

The fog lifted suddenly and a beautiful island came into view. Hal felt something stir in the back of his head. He ignored it in favor of aiming the nose down slightly so that when they jumped they wouldn’t be that far above water and the crash would still mostly covered.

He turned to wrap his arms around Jim who was muttering feverishly about a Doctor Poison. _McCoy is going to be so thrilled about another head injury._ That’s when he realized that Jim’s leg was pinned. Hal groaned and activated his ring when Jim shot up, looked at him, screamed and pushed the throttle to full.

The slight downward arc was now a nose dive. In a perfectly reasonable reaction to the situation, considering they just lost half of a wing, Hal cursed loudly and in several languages.

They hit the water and out of pure instinct Hal’s energy shield formed around him. He was pushed through the water several feet away from the plane. Jim was still trapped and flailing uselessly in the water. As Hal reoriented himself to swim towards Jim a figure entered the water.

After a few seconds, he could clearly make out that the figure was feminine, and had broken off whatever had Jim pinned. They were pulling Jim to the surface. Apparently, they hadn’t noticed Hal or they thought the glowing guy could take care of himself.

Not wanting to leave Jim in the hands of a potentially deadly woman (again) Hal pushed himself up to the surface and powered down his ring once he could clearly see the sun. He wasn’t that far from the shore and he swam towards it.

Their(read Jim’s) savior was leaning over the captain, and Hal prayed that Jim was still alive. That was a conversation that he didn’t want to have, the crew would probably kill him because he didn’t have that family-like bond with them. Not like he had with the Justice League.

God, he missed them.

As Jim started to cough, the woman turned around to look at him and Hal stopped breathing. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Distance really did make the heart grow fonder and Hal felt his eyes begin to burn. He never cried, _what the hell?_

_The last time I saw her, she was running off to die._

“Diana,” he breathed.

She stood and approached him, “how do you know me? You are a man.”

 _Jesus,_ they really were in the past. His past. Way before even the first Justice League. Diana hadn’t even left Themyscira yet.

“And you look like you will cry? Your friend is alive.”

Hal realized that he should answer her, but he was too absorbed in being on the receiving end of her no-nonsense attitude and just hearing her unique accent. The Diana that he knew would laugh at his reaction. Hal Jordan, speechless and crying.

“Where are we?” Jim asked, frowning in confusion.

Diana responded distractedly, “Themyscira.”

Slowly, Diana looked away from him and back to Jim. She was obviously curious, and Hal didn’t blame her. Men don’t usually end up on Themyscira.

“Who are you? Either of you?”

“I’m one of the good guys, and those are the bad guys.”

Hal couldn’t believe this, for a few seconds he debated on not turning around and live in blissful ignorance in the last seconds of his life. With a long-suffering sigh, Hal turned back around to face the group that was chasing them. While he wouldn’t consider himself well-versed in human history, he did know enough military history to know that those were German soldiers.

“That’s great, really. It's exactly what we needed,” he muttered.

Both Diana and Jim shot him baffled looks.

“They’re Germans. We need to get out of here.”

Hal looked back at Jim, wondering if the captain had studied Earth history as early as the World Wars.

“Step away from her! Now!”

“Ready your bows!

Hal looked up and saw several Amazons with bows drawn. He really didn’t want to piss them off so he grabbed Jim and took a step back.

“They have guns right?” Jim whispered, gazing at the warriors.

“Fire!”

All of the sudden a hail of arrows arched overhead, and several Germans tipped out of the boat. Hal turned back around and grabbed Jim and Diana because they seemed stunned this was turning into a battle. In their defense, Jim had nearly drowned and Diana was a baby goddess that didn’t know she was one and probably had never been in a live battle.

And here he thought he was going to only win the worse day. This might actually make the top five of Enterprise’s worst missions and depending on how the rest of this ends up the top ten worst missions of the JLA.

_Staying dead would’ve been so much easier._

The fight was in full swing by the time he got them to the safety of the boulders. Amazonians were falling in great numbers, and Hal felt sympathy lance through him. The few times he had come to this isle he saw how few of the Amazonians there were. This couldn’t have made the World of Man easy for Diana to love.

Then the cavalry arrived and the battle seemed to become balanced. There was at least one Amazonian that was as kickass as Diana is-will be.

For some reason, both Jim leapt out from their shelter and joined the fight. Hal cursed again and powered his ring. Covering him in a firefight was usually as easy as breathing for him, but Jim was scrambling to find a gun, leaving himself open. He was also trying to keep an eye on Diana, in case she ran out from the cover. Hal knew that she could handle herself, but it never hurt anyone to have an extra pair of eyes looking out for them.

This whole battle seemed familiar, but he had never paid much attention to the stories Diana told of her life before she became Wonder Woman. Sue him, he had always lived in the present until he had died and the universe had ended, then he had only dwelled on his past mistakes. Not to mention he and Diana had never seen eye to eye, he would say something unintentionally offensive and then she would start yelling and being disappointed in him.

It happened quickly, Diana’s back was turned (when had she joined the fight?) and was displaying the signs of panic, too overwhelmed by the horrible sight in front of her. He barely heard the gun being fired, but everything was happening in slow motion. Another Amazon had leapt into the bullet’s path. Hal put up a wall out of pure reflex as Jim put his own bullet through the man’s head.

The bullet felt to the ground harmlessly but nobody noticed. It was then that Hal realized that he just interfered with the timeline. Of course, the Amazon could have been saved, but judging by how the battle was raging around them. She had died this fight. He doubted that this would be a random act of kindness that wouldn’t affect anything.

Then he realized that they had all seen his powers. Jim was staring at him in shock like he had never seen Hal’s ring before. Which caused alarm bells to begin to ring in his head. There was something different about Jim, and that could either hinder or help them.

All of the Germans were dead on the ground, which now allowed for the two Amazonian leaders to calm down and deal with the men, the one that had nearly been shot seemed to be appraising them. Hal landed and powered down the ring. Best to look non-threatening.

“You!” One cried, charging after Jim.

Hal moved to impede her movement, but Diana was faster.

“No, mother, no!” Diana ran in front of them, “they saved Antiope’s life, and they fought at my side.”

“What man fights against his own people?”

Jim raised his hands, “these aren’t my people.”

Hal raised an eyebrow, moving to stand next to the captain.

“Then why do you wear their colors?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

He turned towards Jim. Usually, the captain would come up with some kind of story, but he was sounding less like Jim. Hal frowned, trying to remember the term that McCoy had used... Memory splicing? That would be the last thing they need.

“You will tell us!”

“What is your name?”

“I can’t tell you that either.”

Hal wanted to smack himself in the face. Jim was just making it worse for them unless this was a case of memory splicing. Which he was beginning to feel like was the answer when he put all of the pieces together.

“We should kill them now. And be done with it.”

“I’m not in favor of that,” Hal said before he could think.

Thankfully, they seemed to ignore his outburst. As another, familiar Amazon began to speak. Hal had vague memories of this one throwing him and Barry into a wall when they had sparred with the Amazons.

“If he dies, we know nothing of who they are, and why they came.”

The Amazon that was dazed on the ground slowly stood up, “the lasso...”

The Queen, Hal was assuming, looked down at them, “follow. Should you attempt anything we will kill you.”

_Well, I now I know who Diana inherited her mannerisms from._

During the walk back Diana slowed her horse down to walk beside them.

“You know me, you said my name. How?”

Hal was dreading this conversation, “I can’t tell you. It could- would ruin a lot of things.”

“Why? You’re just a man.”

Jim looked over at them, confused once again.

“Please Diana,” Hal looked her in the eyes, they were so familiar but the usual (and rare) warmth that they held for him was gone, “you have to trust me. Someday you’ll understand, I promise.”

She held his gaze, Hal could see the internal debate, “I do not know you, but I will trust your word, for now.”

* * *

The Lasso of Truth looked like less fun that he remembered it. Actually, this was a step up from the last time he had seen it. Back when he miraculously was revived (it would’ve been kinder to leave him dead, he remembered _everything_ ) when the JLA had to be sure that it was him. Hal hoped he remembered the loopholes for it, or they asked open-ended questions.

Jim went first. The lasso was wrapped around him and began to glow. From what Hal remembered, the thing got _hot._

“What is your name?”

There was a long pause, and the Amazon’s stirred. Hal could see that it wasn’t because he didn’t want to answer, but that Jim didn’t know what he should answer.

“Captain Steve Trevor.”

Hal raised an eyebrow, what the hell? This was not happening.

“Where are you from?” Hippolyta questioned.

“Iowa.”

Hal sighed.

“Who do you work for?”

Again there was a long pause, and the rope grew brighter as it looked like Jim tried to resist the compulsion.

“I can’t tell you.” He gasped out.

“You will!”

“Assigned to British intelligence,” it was said in a rush, “what the hell is this thing?”

“The Lasso of Hestia compels you to tell the truth.”

“But it’s really hot.”

Hal crossed his arms and he tuned out the rest of the conversation. The identity problem was helpful with not interfering with this world’s past. Not that knowing a person was from the Federation would change anything, could change anything. Himself, on the other hand, was the danger. He could ruin (or save, the optimistic part of him, that sounded suspiciously like Barry, chirped) this world.

“What is your mission?”

Jim seemed to fight it again, but as Hal expected he gave in. “British Intelligence got word that the leader of the German Army General Ludendorff would be visiting a secret military installation in the Ottoman empire. I posed as one of their pilots and flew in with them.”

He seemed confused at the last part but pressed on, “our intelligence was wrong, it said that the Germans had no more money, troops, or supplies. However, the Turks were building a weapon for them. I was sent to observe and report, but once I saw what kind of weapon they were building, I knew that I had to do something. If I can get these notes back to British intelligence in time, it could stop millions more from dying. It could stop the war.”

“War? What war?” Diana asked.

“The War,” Jim replied.

Hal huffed, like that made it any less confusing.

“The war to end all wars.”

 _Ah. World War I._ Hal nodded. He couldn’t remember which war it was that Diana made her appearance in. As a hero, not under the moniker Wonder Woman, that must have been in World War II.

“Four years. 27 countries. 25 million dead. Soldiers and civilians. Innocent people. Women and children slaughtered. Their homes and their villages looted and burned. Weapons far deadlier than you can ever imagine. It's like nothing I've ever seen. It's like the world's gonna end.”

Hal watched Diana’s face during the explanation. Even he was swayed by Jim’s explanation. He had heard about the wars of course, but he couldn’t imagine what living through them was like. 

“It must be Ares,” Diana turned to her mother.

However, Hippolyta’s eyes settled on Hal, she had been glancing around the room during Jim’s explanations.

He felt heat wrap around him and he heard, “I’ve only encountered your people once before. What are you?”

Everything almost spilled out but he bit his tongue and breathed through the discomfort. Although, he did wonder how she had known about his people if she was referring to the corp.

“Green Lantern, Earth’s first,” Hal spoke calmly.

The Amazon’s seemed surprised, there was another murmer that tore through the crowd. He’d make sure this interrogation would work for him. Make sure that he didn’t break his future.

Hippolyta frowned, “why are you here?”

“Assigned to sector 2814. Earth is within that.”

“Name?”

It was an unexpected opening. Hal wasn’t sure whether it was because she wasn’t sure what to do with a Green Lantern or it was simply because he had experience with the lasso, but the answer came to him quickly.

“Alan Scott.”

Jim looked like he was about to say something, but closed his mouth instead. Hal thanked the Guardians for small miracles.

“Are you the same as him? A London spy?”

“No,” he shrugged, “American pilot. We’re partners.”

The lasso eased off of him.

“Take them below.”

Jim and himself were grabbed roughly and then dragged somewhere. In his pocket, the communicator chirped. Hal looked around in panic, but it seemed like no one but him had noticed. He prayed that the crew wouldn’t give up after one failed communication attempt.

Part of him was glad that he couldn’t answer, he could stay. This was probably as close to home as he was going to get ever again, but this wasn’t Jim’s life. If there was some way that they could both get what they wanted he would take it in a heartbeat. No one here would know of a way to achieve that so Hal would play it by ear.

As it turned out, “below” happened to be a very nice cell. There was even glowing water. _Neat._

The two guards tossed them in followed by a basket and shut the door. Jim wandered towards the water and Hal moved towards the basket. It was filled with medical supplies, very old medical technology. Probably because they fell from the sky. Actually, they were pretty lucky to have survived that now that he was thinking about it.

No one was in sight of the door so Hal pulled out the communicator. He flipped it open and fiddled with the signal only to find that it wasn’t doing anything. The signal had been lost, if there ever was one. But he would keep trying.

Sighing he pocketed the comm and went to join Jim at the water.

“We need to get out of here,” Jim said.

“I agree.”

“And then we need to get back to London and give them this book.”

“The book you stole right?” Hal did not roll his eyes, alright, maybe he did a little.

Jim turned to face him, “Doctor Poison’s notebook, recipe list? You know the one that is going to determine the fate of the War?”

This is exactly what he didn’t want to happen. While he didn’t listen to Diana’s stories, this part was mentioned in his history classes. A rumor of a chemical weapon and a team of five soldiers went to stop it, one was a woman and another two were never seen again. It was considered to be a tall tale meant to increase post-war morale at the resounding victory over Germany.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Either Jim was ignoring him (very likely) or didn’t hear him (unlikely) and began to strip, “well, we haven’t had a proper bath in weeks, let’s enjoy this for the time being.”

The water did look nice and it probably had some kind of healing property. At least it would relax him, let him come up with a battle plan since they were probably going to save the world.

He undressed and waded into the water. Jim looked like he was hesitating about joining him, bathing with another man. 20th century Jim would hate to know what 30th century Jim did.

Eventually, he joined Hal. They bathed in silence. Jim was playing with the water, amazed by its glow. The door opened, creaking loudly. Hal leaned back, he had a good guess as to who it was, but Jim had jumped up.

Diana walked in and paused to look at Jim’s naked form and tilted her head. Barry would’ve found it hilarious since they both had Diana walk in on them in compromising positions and it hadn’t fazed her. But this had to be the first time seeing a penis in real life.

“I didn’t see you come in.”

Hal snorted.

“Would you say you’re a typical example of your sex?”

Jim was blushing so hard, Hal could see it on his neck.

“I am above average.”

 _Oh my god, I have to tell McCoy and Uhura, they aren’t ever going to let Mr. Egotistical forget that he’s only above average._ Hal had sunk into the water to hide his snickering.

There were a couple more seconds of awkward staring before Diana broke it.

“What’s that?”

Hal choked before he realized a second before Jim did that she was referring to his watch.  
          “It’s a watch.”

“A watch?”

“Yeah, it's a watch. It tells time,” He rubbed the surface, “My father gave it to me. Went through hell ‘n back with him-”

Hal groaned. He couldn’t believe that a literal goddess and the best captain in the fleet were discussing the function of a watch. Instead of listening to the nonsensical chatter, Hal dipped his head below the water and held his breath. It was something that he used to do all of the time when was younger. The quiet of being below water was relaxing in a way. Once he sure that the conversation had turned from watches, he broke the surface again.

“This war the men are fighting, you said it is the war to end all wars?”

“Yes!”

Hal had a very bad feeling about where this was going.

Diana nodded like she had made up her mind, “I will help you escape the island if you take me to Ares.”

It went exactly where he thought it was going.

“Ares?” Jim asked.

“He is the one causing the war. If he is defeated the war will end.”

Jim turned and gave him a questioning look. Hal shrugged, this was the best offer they were likely to get.

“Okay.”

They quickly got dressed. This trip was looking worse and worse, and he wasn’t sure how. They had the best Captain in the fleet, the “Greatest Green Lantern”, and a literal goddess. This should be a walk in the park, but there was this sinking suspicion things weren’t going to be as easy as he would like to think.

Diana gripped Jim’s wrist to look at the watch closer.

“I didn’t get a chance to say this earlier but thank you for dragging me out of the water.”

“Thank you, for what you did on the beach earlier,” Diana glanced towards you, “and you as well. If not for your power, then Antitope would have died.”

He felt awkwardness at the gratitude so instead, Hal pulled on his bomber jacket and joined them. Diana eyed him and he smirked which made her turn away in annoyance. That was familiar at least.

“Right, we have a war to end I believe?” Hal grinned.

* * *

It was surprisingly easy to sneak out of an Amazonian prison. There hadn’t been any guards posted, nor had anyone been out in the streets while they snuck towards the shore. Hal kept his mouth shut because he wasn’t going to be the one that jinxed them.

They approached the dock, and Hal could barely make out a raft. He really hoped Diana knew how to sail, because he sure as hell didn’t and Jim’s skill set was impressive but not enough to sail an ancient Greek boat.

“We’re using that?” Jim whispered harshly.

“No, she was going to make us swim to London,” Hal shot back.

Jim didn’t look amused.

“Can you not sail?” Diana turned around.

“It’s been awhile,” Jim said at the same time he said “no.”

She looked at them and then her eyes widened. On instinct, Hal turned around and saw that their escape hadn’t gone unnoticed. He stepped back to get level with Diana, his ring glowing faintly.

Hippolyta rode forward and dismounted several feet from where they were standing. Diana walked forward. Hal could tell that they weren’t going to fight but talk, but not wanting to push his luck he decided that they should move to the boat. He grabbed Jim and pulled him enough to get him moving.

By the time they had managed to get the boat untied Diana had returned. She looked upset and Hal took a step forward before thinking better of it. He couldn’t comfort people in his own time, it wasn’t like he was going to be able to start now.

Still, it was Diana and he’d rather see Diana scowl than cry so he carefully walked over and kept his face neutral. Any member of the league hated to be pitied.

“You’re making the right choice you know. You’re going to save a lot of lives,” Hal said, though he wasn’t sure that he was talking about right now.

“I know, but it is hard, this island is all I’ve known,” Diana kept her eyes towards the land.

Hal chewed on his lip before speaking again, “you can find a new family out in the Man’s World.”

“Truly?” She tore her eyes away for a brief second.

“I know it.”

After that Hal retreated to the far end of the boat. Jim was setting up a bed for Diana and Hal was happy to take the position of the navigator, his ring would make it easy to stay on course. It also gave him time to breathe and think about what he lost.

Since he had returned from his death after being possessed by Parallax it seemed as though it was just death after death. Even if some of the heroes returned in order to fight Nekron. Hell, even Barry was pulled out of the speed force, which as he understood it nearly proved disastrous. It had been good to see the speedster again, even if it was followed by taking on entropy himself.

That had gone spectacularly horrible and as result forced to leave everything behind. He wouldn’t have minded so much at the start of Blackest Night when everyone he loved was dead sans Carol but knowing the universe died and he lived? It was a heavy burden.

Young Diana had reminded him of it and he felt the guilt crushing him like it hadn’t in months. Barry had told him how tricky time travel was, fixing one thing and making it “better” could ruin it for everyone else. This wasn’t his world anymore but he couldn’t endanger them like that.

For the first time since Parallax had started taking control, Hal felt uncertain bordering on fear. Even his presence could be disrupting things, waking Nekron up years before he should be to chase his taint. The world wouldn’t stand a chance now, not without the Justice League.

Hal shook his head. He couldn’t think about things like that. Right now he needed to focus on a way to get them back to their universe and time. Jim might not be _Jim Kirk_ at the moment, but he still had duties. The comm chirped and Hal yanked it out of his pocket.

“-Ra to gr-d,” static filled the channel.

He twisted the knob trying to get a stronger signal through, when that didn’t work he began whispering to it. Maybe they would be able to get something out of his fragments.

“Jordan here, we’re in another dimension. My dimension. In the past, World War I in 1920.”

The comm cut out abruptly. Hal could only pray that they got any of that. He trusted that the Enterprise crew could figure it out, but until then he was stuck being chased by ghosts of people that weren’t even born yet.

* * *

London sucked. Hal was in agreement with Diana on this topic. It was gray and miserable, a perfect reflection of his mood that he didn’t appreciate. On the bright side, Diana in the regular world was hilarious. Especially since she didn’t know how any of it worked.

She had attempted to fling her coat back when Jim grabbed it quickly and pulled it tighter around her.

“No, you’re barely dressed!” He gasped.

Hal snickered, “let her wear what she wants, it makes her feel powerful.”

Diana pointed her sword at him, “I agree with Alan. My armor is a statement of power!”

Jim looked at him betrayed, “but your legs...”

“My legs?”

Hal walked up to Diana, “some men can’t handle seeing women’s ankles.”

“That is their problem, it is no fault of mine if they can not control themselves,” Diana frowned.

“Not helping, Alan,” Jim whispered, “please, we’re supposed to avoid attention. You can wear whatever you like when we get to the front, but in town let’s go with something a little more modest?”

“That is agreeable,” Diana nodded.

Hal was still snickering. This was making things too easy for him to be a pain in the ass to Jim. Though he was pretty sure that he shouldn’t be trying to cause a scene, they were supposed to be on a secret mission after all.

“Look! It’s a baby!” Diana rushed over to the woman and her child.

He raised an eyebrow as Jim had to chase her down and pull her back to them. Once that was settled, Jim spoke directly to him.

“I called a friend, she’s going to meet us to help find Diana something to wear,” Jim said, “meanwhile you and I are going to see if we can’t get a meeting with one of my superiors.”

“We’re leaving Diana alone?” Hal asked.

“Not alone,” Jim shrugged.

They arrived at the clothing store where a plump woman ran up to greet them, specifically Jim.

“Thank god, you’re not dead!” She scolded, as she ran to hug Jim. Hal hung back hoping that she wouldn’t notice him.

 “And who is this lovely woman?” The woman noticed Diana, “and charming man?”

She batted her eyes at Hal, and he tried not to wince, not that she wasn’t charming in her own way he just couldn’t deal with being flirted with.

“I am Diana-”

Hal stepped forward to stop the usual speech that came with her introductions and made a mental note to apologize later, “Alan Scott, American Air Force. A pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, another American?” The lady giggled, “when was this a joint operation?”

Jim floundered for a couple of seconds before he spoke, “we met up during the mission, same objectives and all of that.”

The woman covered her mouth, “where are my manners? I am Etta Candy. Pleasure.”

“She’s my secretary,” Jim elaborated.

“What is that?” Diana tilted her head.

“Well, I take calls, get papers, everything really.”

Hal tuned out the remainder of the conversation. He had to think of something to tell British Intelligence. They would know of any American movements if he lied to them and they found out then they were sure to be detained. Infiltration had always been more of a Batman and Green Arrow job, they knew how to act.

Eventually, Etta and Diana wandered deeper into the store and left Jim and Hal alone. They left and moved towards the nearest phone.

Jim pushed against his shoulder when they were on the street, “I don’t remember meeting up with you.”

Hal sighed, “listen, you had a pretty nasty head injury. I hear those can scramble your memories. Make you forget things.”

“Really? I remember everything about the mission but you...” Jim frowned.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Hal shrugged, “but I was the one to fly you out of there. So you owe me, I want to help save this war.”

His rousing speech seemed to convince Jim for the time being. He really hoped that when they got back to the Enterprise, McCoy would be able to fix this quickly. Otherwise, they were going to have to deal with Mr. Patriot complaining that he had to save his country. Hal understood it to some extent, he was military, but Steve Trevor evidently took it to the extreme.

“Okay, Diana seems to like you,” Jim grinned.

“At the moment she does,” Hal chuckled, “but I have a feeling in the future she won’t be so friendly.”

Jim narrowed his eyes but said nothing. They were approaching what Jim claimed to be a secret military phone relay. Hal stood outside while he went in to make the call. A few men stuck out to him that looked like they were following them. There was one he knew that had been following them for a while, trying to be slick but failing.

Several minutes later, Jim rejoined him.

“We have to go to Command, they’re talking about the armistice.”

“Ready to collect our Wonder Woman?” Hal smirked.

“Hopefully she hasn’t stabbed anyone,” Jim muttered.

 _I wish that wasn’t a valid concern._ Hal followed behind, keeping an eye on their tales. Judging from the way Jim’s eyes were darting around the road he had noticed that they were being followed as well.

At the store, Diana had walked out looking very much like a modest Bond girl, A true secret agent. Jim was speechless and Hal could understand why. Diana was beautiful, and nothing was going to hide that.

Etta seemed like she was about to throttle Diana. Shopping with the Amazonian hadn’t gone well, it seemed. Not that he cared much about how smooth it went, just that it got done. If this was in his time he might suggest someone send the secretary an edible arrangement. _Carol had always liked to shop with Diana._

Hal shook his head, he kept getting stuck in his past. Right now, his focus should be on getting Jim to realize who he was and getting them out of here. No matter how badly he wanted to stop this war and be (indirectly) remembered for something other than his days as a Green Lantern. To have a legacy that wasn’t tainted.

Outside, Jim seemed to realize that Diana couldn’t be seen walking around with a sword and shield.

“I will not part with it,” she declared, “this sword is the only way to stop Ares.”

Etta stepped in, “yes, but it's not very safe to walk around with a blade. I promise I won’t lose it.”

Diana held the sword up, it was a childish move.

“We can’t walk into high command with a sword, we’ll be arrested!” Jim complained.

Hal stepped in before things got violent, “I have a solution?”

“Speak,” Diana commanded.

“I have a pocket dimension in my ring, I can put the sword in there, and I’ll be able to call it back at a moment’s notice.”

She seemed to consider it for a second, “it will not get lost?”

“Safest place in the universe,” Hal smiled.

“Very well.”

Hal took the sword and shield and once he was sure that no one would notice and opened up the ring’s pocket dimension. He slipped the tools in and closed it. Jim looked impressed and Diana chewed on her bottom lip.

“I promise that they will be fine.”

“The moment that I want them?” Diana asked, “you will give them to me.”

“Lantern’s honor.”

After that, things progressed smoothly. Jim eventually got tired of their tail. They slipped into an alleyway despite Diana’s confused protests. Hal covered the entrance as they slowly crept back. He only heard the click of a gun being cocked. Turning around he saw that a pistol was put to Jim’s head.

Jim was able to knock the man away when several more came into the alley from another entrance. Hal turned back to his three and clenched his fist. There was a metallic ping and he knew that Diana had shown her bracers.

The first intruder swung at him, and Hal ducked switching his stance and swinging his arm in a right hook, which caught his opponent in the jaw. It staggered him, but the guy came right back swinging. Hal stepped back and grabbed the arm, he twisted it and stepped into the guy before flipping him onto the ground. Before his opponent could recover he stamped on his face.

Feeling good about his takedown he looked to see if he need to help Jim. The captain had managed to take down one on his own.

Meanwhile, Diana had taken down six. One of the ones that evaded her was running towards an exit. She pulled her lasso out, Hal really wanted to know where she had been hiding it. He was also very grateful that they had forgotten she had it. It whipped around his and ankle glowed.

She ran towards him and hovered in front of him, “you are clearly under his influence. Tell me where he is and I will free you.”

Hal doubted that would work and seconds later he saw the man frothing at the mouth. _Cyanide._

“I do not understand,” Diana began.

Jim was also looking stunned and Hal could tell that this was a Jim Kirk reaction and not a Steve Trevor reaction. Which was promising, but the worse time for this to happen.

Hal stepped forward trying his best to look sympathetic, “these guys, don’t like being taken alive.”

Diana turned to him, “then we must find Ares with all haste.”

“And we will. After we get this book to command,” Jim responded.

* * *

The meeting did _not_ go well. Hal wanted to join Diana in knocking some heads together, how could anyone be that callous to their own men? Even Batman showed more compassion to _criminals_ than that. Only Diana was verbally yelling about it, Hal’s ring was sparking.

Jim spun around, trying to get Diana to stop yelling so people would stop looking at them.

“Look,” he whisper-shouted, “just stop for a second, we’re going.”

Diana stopped mid-word and Hal snickered but hid it when they looked over at him. She turned her attention back to Jim.

“What do you mean, you said-”

Jim held her eyes, “I lied.”

“You lied?” Diana exclaimed, she looked offended, “how do I know that you are not lying now?”

He reached out, and Hal’s eyes bugged out for a second before he saw the flash of gold indicating that Jim grabbed the lasso. It was wrapped around his wrist and glowed.

“We are going to the front, I am taking you there,” he paused, “and we’re probably going to die.”

Diana pulled the rope off of him. She was grinning, and Hal couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face.

“Are you coming along Alan?” She tilted her head.

“Of course,” he swung his arm around Jim’s shoulder, “someone has to be the fearless idiot.”

Jim narrowed his eyes and Hal grinned at his own private joke. It was something that many of the league members (and fellow lanterns) had said to him many times when they were trying to figure out who to bring on a mission. None of the other lantern’s got badmouthed as bad as him, but Hal knew that it was mostly out of love.

Until he went yellow and nearly killed them. His grin died on his face. _What the hell? I haven’t thought about that, them, for so long. Why can’t I go an hour without thinking about it now?_

Neither of his companions seemed to notice his sudden change of mood. He shook his head and rejoined the conversation.

 “So, I get that we’re impressive, but we might need a little bit of help getting to the front,”  Hal looked at Jim.

 He hoped that Steve had some guys that he knew that would be willing to do something like this. Hal frowned, the JSA might be active... though he wasn’t sure how to even get into contact with any of them if they were.

“Don’t worry, I know some guys,” Jim grinned.

That statement was reassuring until they walked into the shadiest looking bar he had seen thus far. It was loud, dim, and smell like urine. Diana didn’t look confident in the venue either. He hung back, waiting to see who Jim would pick up out of this mess.

He went over to an Indian man and said something that Hal couldn’t pick up over the noise. Diana was looking around like she couldn’t figure out which group to stare at first, before shrugging and following after Jim.

Hal saw the start of an argument across the bar. At least some things were constant across the timelines. He arched a brow and watched as the first punch was thrown.

“There’s Charlie!” Jim grinned.

“At least he can fight,” Diana noted.

The two men looked at each other before the Indian man spoke.

“Charlie isn’t winning.”

Diana looked crestfallen. That’s when Hal stepped up next to Jim.

“Oh Sameer, this is our other companion,” Jim paused, “Alan Scott.”

“How do you do? Call me Sammy!”

Hal took the offered hand and shook it, “pleasure to meet you.”

“An American?” Sameer looked Hal up and down.

“Yeah.”

It ended the conversation and there was finally a chance to get Charlie out of the fight. Jim and Sammy ran in to pull Charlie up and away while Hal gripped the other patron’s shoulder, it was tight enough to be a warning.

Once his companions were clear Hal dropped the shoulder. The other man looked torn between looking impressed, getting pissed, and being afraid. Hal hated when he saw that look in people’s eyes. He didn’t want them to be afraid of him. _How does-did-will Batman work like this?_

He joined the rest of the group only to see that Sir Patrick was sliding an envelope over to Jim. That guy gave Hal all of the wrong vibes. Though he wasn’t going to say anything so long as he was helpful. There was no proof.

Hal sat down and Charlie squinted his eyes at him, “who's this?”

“Alan Scott, I’ll be traveling with you guys,” Hal replied.

Charlie kept his eyes on him, but then shrugged. Briefly, Hal wondered if he had any relatives that fought in World War I, they could look like him if that was the case.

Suddenly the guy that Charlie had been fighting reappeared. He didn’t look happy and looked like he was pulling a gun out of his vest. Diana reacted first, crushing the gun and then throwing the man across the bar.

“I am aroused, but also terrified,” Sammy said to no one in particular.

_That’s a very common feeling around Diana._

The other patrons left them alone, although they weren’t there for much longer. They planned to gather with Chief before moving onto their next task, which would actually be making the trip to the Front. Hal was not excited to be shot at.

Everyone went their separate ways, but Jim took them to Steve Trevor’s apartment. Which Hal would feel a little weirder about if he wasn’t so exhausted. Diana got the guest bed, Jim got his(Steve’s) bed and he was left with blankets and floor space.

Hal didn’t have the energy to complain he settled down on the floor and was out within minutes.

* * *

**_‘There’s an extra ring,’_ ** _a voice echoed._

_Hal turned around, trying to find the source. He knew who that was, or rather knew of who it was speaking._

**_‘Are you sure it isn’t just duplicated?’_ ** _Another asked._

**_‘Positive, it says that it is Abin Sur’s original ring.’_ **

_Hal looked down at his ring as if he expected it to have formed a mouth or an image of something to talk with the guardians. Perhaps it was just impressions that after millennia the Guardians were just that good at reading them._

**_‘It is on an Earthman, not a magicked version.’_ ** _A third spoke, **‘Abin Sur has never been within that galaxy, much less on Earth’s surface. ‘**_

**_‘So how does this Earthman possess the ring?’_ ** _The first questioned._

_The dream was becoming more visual, no longer was Hal drifting in darkness. He had been able to focus and pull his presence towards them. Faintly the Seat of the Guardians could be seen._

**_‘It has mastery over its Will! It comes closer!’_ ** _The third one exclaimed._

_If Hal didn’t know the Guardians better, he would think that one of them was outraged. The only Guardian he knew to have emotion was Ganthet. Even then he hadn’t seen it, but he believed Kyle’s word._

**_‘How quickly it comes!’_ ** _A fifth joined._

_The Seats were now as solid as he could get them in his nonphysical state. Any more and he risked pulling himself to Oa, and he didn’t feel like he was allowed back on the planet yet. There was still so much to atone for._

**_‘Earthman, who are you? Why do you wear the extra ring!’_ ** _The fifth spoke again._

_Hal pulled himself as straight as he could be. His uniform had formed when the Guardians started speaking to him. He eyed the ones on the lowest level._

**_‘I am Hal Jordan,’_ ** _He thought, it came out booming. **‘The reason I have Abin Sur’s ring is, it chose me. In the future, I will become a Green Lantern.’**_

_A sixth Guardian scoffed, ‘ **An Earthman with a power ring? Impossible. They aren’t fit.’**_

**_‘I was given the sector 2814 to watch as my own, as Abin Sur did before me, and as the ring bearer before him did,’_ ** _Hal stuck out his chin, **‘You can see spots in the future, check them now and see that I am telling you the truth.’**_

_The seventh spoke, it was Ganthet, **‘he speaks the truth. I can feel his will from here, even if he wasn’t chosen, he is worthy of the title.’**_

**_‘Then why is this Lantern in this time?’_ ** _The fourth asked._

**_‘I am here from another dimension, in the future. The last chapter came to pass,’_ ** _Hal paused, it wasn’t like the Guardians didn’t know it was coming, **‘in my life. I was pushed into another universe to carry out the Corps’ will, by Last Light. I came back to this one by mistake.’**_

_A whisper rose through the crowd. Hal looked at them and saw Ganthet was staring directly at him. He only raised an eyebrow._

_Ganthet raised their hand, and a hush fell, **‘if you know of what comes to pass, then why do you still wear the ring? Surely you could’ve gotten a new start. You could’ve ignored our summons if you were only using it as a tool.’**_

**_‘I choose to honor the way of the corps, not the way of the Guardians. What the corp stands for is something I believe in, I didn’t want to forget what being a Green Lantern has done for me,’_ ** _Hal said._

**_‘And, though you do not follow our ways you stand before us, why?’_ ** _The first asked._

_Hal cleared his throat, **‘I am unsure, I only felt the presence of the Guardians.’**_

_He could feel them probing his thoughts, probably in his unconscious finding his true motivations. It’s not like he had any hidden motives. Truthfully he wasn’t sure what he was thinking about accomplishing, other than keeping his ring. If the Guardians wanted it back, they could take it now. This seemed like the best option._

_Again the crowd stirred, **‘you wish to change the fate of the universe?’**_

_That was not what he was expecting them to find. Sure he had thought about it, this gave him the potential too, but he knew all too well the dangers of time travel. All though if it proved universe ending, it wouldn’t be much of a difference. Maybe it would take longer, it could be less time. He doubted that if Ganthet performed Last Light again, they would end up in the same Universe with Jim as they had before. Hal doubted he would be going along that time._

_But, if he could notice the signs soon enough, he could give them a fighting chance. That’s all that the heroes on Earth needed. The Black Lanterns had taken them by surprise, which is what causes Nekron to win. If he could buy the time, he prayed it would be enough. If the Guardians even considered this, maybe they would shun him. To keep their image._

_Finally,_ _Ganthet turned and spoke to him, **‘we will deliberate on this. You may return to your body.**_

_It was honestly more than he was expecting. A resounding ‘No, but you can keep your ring’ was the best outcome he had been hoping for. Still, even if the guardians granted this request of his then, he had the whole heroing community to convince, he knew what time he would go back too. It would guarantee the least amount of change._

_Before the Seats fully faded away, the fourth spoke once more, **‘you wouldn’t try and absolve yourself of your sins as Parallax?’**_

_Hal didn’t have the time to answer that. He wasn’t sure if it was a possibility he would like to make it that he never fell to the entity, but if he did then the signs could change, and they would be in the same boat. Not to mention he would have less of a chance of running into himself. It was something that he would have to consider, though he doubted the Guardians would give him the chance._

* * *

Hal woke up suddenly jumping to a sitting position and cracking his head against Diana’s.The Amazonian only rubbed at the spot but he was dazed for several seconds. Jim walked into the room and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Your sleep looked unrestful,” Diana said to him.

“Yeah,” Hal slowly sat back up, “talking to eons old space smurfs tends to do that.”

Jim and Diana shared a look that clearly said that he had no idea what he was talking about. Thankfully Jim seemed to think that it was just a dream and went back to moving towards the kitchen.

“Coffee?”

“Yes please,” Hal rolled to his feet.

Diana had crouched down next to him, she was back in her traveling clothes, but he could see the barest hint of her armor underneath it. He held out a hand to her so she could get up. Not understanding his intentions she knocked it aside gently and stood next to him.

“Coffee?”

“It’s a warm drink that gives you energy made from beans,” Hal explained lamely.

“Is it good?” Diana tilted her head.

Hal shrugged, “it’s not for everyone.”

Although he remembered Diana’s fondness for the iced drinks he found he couldn’t remember if she had ever drunk it warm. She had a mug with her at the meetings, but so did Barry but his was filled with water. They learned the hard way not to give the speedster caffeine when he had to sit through hours of meetings.

They both made their way to the kitchen. Jim was boiling water and had a can of coffee ground next to him that he was adding to the mixture. Diana watched curiously and eventually ate a pinch of the grounds. Her face screwed up into one of disgust. Hal snickered.

“You don’t eat that part, you drink it,” he said once he caught his breath.

Diana was a good sport about it. Hal wondered when she had stopped being this way: serious, determined, and inquisitive. She was still all of that but far more jaded and for as much as she loved the World of Man she seemed tired of it at times. He liked seeing her like this and made a promise to himself that if he ever saw the Diana he was familiar with he’d get her to laugh and grin like she was now.

The coffee was made and Hal waited until it was just cooled down enough that he could drink it without burning his mouth. Once it was at that temperature he downed it as fast as he could. Coffee had never been his favorite taste in the world, but he drank it because he liked the wake-up it provided. Clark used to make fun of him for it and then Hal would reply that at least he wasn’t a coffee dependant journalist. He watched Diana blow at her own mug and sip at it. Her eyes lit up in surprise.

“It is good!” She declared.

Jim smirked, “I know, its a soldier's lifeblood.”

Hal made a noise of agreement from where he was sipping the dredges of the drink. He listened to Dian continue to praise coffee for a couple more minutes before he turned to Jim.

“So how are we even getting to the front?”

“We’re taking a train out to the countryside and then a ferry across the channel,” he answered setting his drink down.

“So we should get moving?” Diana asked.

“Probably,” Jim said before lifting the mug and downing the drink in a similar fashion to how Hal originally drank his.

It was laughably easy to get ready. Hal had nothing to his name, and he honestly did not feel like taking an ice cold shower. Jim had showered quickly this morning and informed him that it would not be comfortable. He performed a quick glance around the small apartment, they had everything that they needed.

London was crowded in the early morning, Hal figured that it was probably crowded all day long. Several groups of soldiers made passes at Diana but stopped when Jim glared at them. Hal joined in a couple of times, but Diana had it mostly handled. They also had to redirect her away from the babies. The train station appeared to be _more_ crowded than the streets of London. He felt like he was in Metropolis on a Saturday.

Watching the birth of Diana’s love of ice cream was something. Hal had been trailing behind them because he had learned it was easier to move in a single line versus three abreast. He hadn’t realized that Jim even bought the treat before Diana was reaching over the stand and grabbing the vendors arm.

“You should be very proud.”

Hal snorted and declined the offered cone. He had never been the biggest sweet eater, and he usually didn’t have the money to indulge it, living from pilot “contracting” job to the next. Carol had thought about that one on the fly, just so he could be sure that he had some form of employment, it was the only way she could keep him on the payroll with all of his benefits.

* * *

He had only flown into combat zones a couple of times during his time in the military, and only one of those times did his boots actually touch the ground. So going to an active front was a new experience for him but he wasn’t completely unprepared. He had seen the men in the hospitals recovering from an IED explosion. The looks were universal.

This was also different from the times that he had gone to a war-torn world as a Green Lantern. They weren’t his people so he was able to keep an air of objectivity while handling the situation. These soldiers had children and wives at home, and he knew all too well the feeling that came with coming home after being injured in war.

Jim shouldered through the crowd expertly avoiding making eye contact with the wounded veterans, as did Sammy. Charlie seemed to be herding the soldiers around them, Hal raised an eyebrow at him and the Irishman raised it right back at him. Diana, on the other hand, looked horrified, more so than she had when she saw people die for the first time. Hal supposed there was a difference, death was something that happened in wars. Suffering was tangible. Slowly so she could pull away if she needed to Hal wrapped his hand around her’s.

She turned back to him confused, “we are not together...”

“It can be for comfort as well.”

After that she kept walking forward, her hand would squeeze his whenever they passed a particularly painful sight. Jim lead them away from the train and down towards the waiting ferryman. Who happened to be a gruff older gentleman that only spoke to them long enough to determine that they had the money and where they wanted to get off.

Hal was tired of traveling by the time they made land. The old man wasn’t exactly good at handling the boat and seemed that he was making the journey rough on purpose. Diana was standing at the front of the vessel, looking around at the nearing country. Jim was next to her, he was saying something that was getting eaten by the wind by the time it would’ve reached Hal’s ears. Not that he minded that much.

The walk through the woods was the most fun part of the trip. Hal was attempting to not stumble over roots, which he failed at spectacularly. Jim would laugh at him every time that he did. He gave up and powered his ring so that he could float above it. Unfortunately, it only made Jim laugh harder, and then he remembered that the other two hadn’t seen his ring before which delayed them by him having to explain it again. At least he refrained from using the word magic around them. He never claimed to be the most graceful hero.

“You might want to land,” Jim said suddenly, “we’re getting close. I don’t know how he’d react to a man in green that flies.”

It was a fair enough observation, so Hal dropped the ring’s aura and landed softly on the ground. Diana was standing ahead of them impatient. She had her arms crossed and a look that said she was ready to go. They had slowed their pace over the last hour as the light started to grow dimmer.

“We must keep moving,” she said, “every second we waste Ares grows stronger!”

* * *

Hal was grateful to settle down for the night. He had decided to refrain from using his ring for mundane uses (after the forest started to thin), he wasn’t sure how long the charge would last. The Guardians may have fixed it, but compared to his Guardians they were Neanderthals. He hadn’t had a problem yet, but he wasn’t about to risk it.

For a hero, he had terrible luck. He paused with his cup halfway to his lips, before smiling maudlinly, it had been too long since he thought about himself in that way. Maybe this war was his turning point, he wouldn’t mind just being a civilian hero. A soldier like he had been before he switched to test piloting and then becoming a Green Lantern. They had planes at this time even.

He smiled at the comradery happening around the campfire. Jim was playing the part of Steve well. Hal was partially worried that the longer they stayed in this time the less of a chance that Jim would be able to go back to thinking of himself as Jim Kirk.

As the night grew darker, the sounds of artillery filled the air. Hal winced, they were closer to the front than he would have liked to be. But he was doing this for his world. He left the campfire to stretch his legs when the communicator chirped again.

He flicked it open to be greeted with static before a voice broke through, “s-v-e in-r-en-e -- rngs -- status?”

Hal responded, “Jim’s memory spliced. Belgium. 1920. Another dimension. Rings?”

The single didn’t cut dead this time but grew stronger, “a few days. Ri- int-r-fer-ce.”

That time the communicator really did cut out. A few days? Until what? Something was interfering with their communicators, and if he was guessing correctly it must mean that some sort of energy similar to his ring was causing the interference.

_The Guardians? There’s no way they would?_

He heard yelling coming from the camp and he quickly pocketed the communicator before sprinting back. Only to be greeted with the sight of Charlie storming off with his hands gripping his rifle tightly. Diana looked startled, and before Hal could ask what in the world happened, Chief spoke.

“He sees ghosts.”

Hal winced in sympathy. He knew that feeling all too well, and he didn’t want to make Charlie feel worse by going after him. Instead, he wandered over to his tent to get settled for the night. Diana was talking to Jim, and she looked over at him.

After she finished her conversation she wandered over to him and crouched, “Alan, are you all right?”

“I’ll be better once we stop this war,” Hal replied.

Diana nodded, “but there’s something more? Your eyes, they look similar to the men we saw earlier. Have you seen much bloodshed?”

Hal laughed a little self-depreciating, “too much.”

That satisfied Diana as she stood up and made her way back to Chief while she held her blanket tightly. He laid awake for a while after that, too many thoughts in his head, and the sound of battle was sending him back to the time he had been a prisoner for several weeks. Eventually, he willed himself to sleep.

* * *

_Hal was blinded by a white aura. He lifted his hand in the air to try and block out some of the light but found that he couldn’t. It was all-encompassing, and there was something familiar about it. There was no sound, but he could feel the comfort and energy the aura was radiating, it was familiar, but Hal couldn’t place it._

_He tried to speak but found that his voice was gone. The aura felt amused._

* * *

Diana was shaking him awake. Hal blinked up in confusion, unsure of what it was that he was dreaming about. He knew that it was a good dream, it didn’t feel like he had the pit in his stomach that he usually had after a nightmare that he couldn’t remember. Slowly he raised himself into a sitting position to see that he was the last one up. No wonder why Diana was looking at him annoyed.

It brought back a lot of good memories.

Breakfast was quiet. Everyone knew that today would be the day that they reached the front. Hal was steeling himself for the sights that he was sure to see, and part of him wanted to warn Diana of what they could see, but she was engaged in in a conversation with Jim. Instead, Hal chewed moodily on whatever it was that they gave him for breakfast. He wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t just sawdust and paste.

To his surprise, it was Charlie that came over to him.

“Alan, was it?”

Hal swallowed his food and coughed when it got stuck in his throat, “that’s right.”

“You ever been in combat before?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah,” Hal replied, and then added, “I was even captured.”

Charlie nodded, “are you scared, going back to the front?”

Hal opened his mouth to deny that he was scared. He wasn’t, he’s never been scared when he was in his right mind. But he had a feeling that there was something more to this line of questioning than assessing his courage. Besides, this wasn’t the war he was captured in. These weren’t his villains.

“I guess I am, in a way,” Hal eventually settled on.

Judging by the look of relief on Charlie’s face it was the right answer. Hal looked up to see an approving glint in Diana’s eyes. He comforted himself with knowing that when Diana and Alan Scott did meet, she would already have a good opinion of him. That look wasn’t for him, he wouldn’t let it be. This wasn’t his life that he was living, he shouldn’t act like Hal Jordan.

They finally got moving, at what Jim’s watch said was eight. Although he didn’t know if it was accounting for the different time zones or not. _It doesn’t matter out here, how long the battles last. They always seem like an eternity._

The mood suddenly worsened as they walked, flashes of artillery fire could be seen in the distance, and Hal clenched his fist, trying to keep himself from flying off and stopping this. The people he passed were worse than the soldiers in a way, they had to flee their homes for a war that they had nothing to do with.

Hal had read about World War I but he had never expected it to be so much worse living it in person. He could see the horror on their faces. Watch as the desperation took over. It was more for his own comfort that he stuck close to Diana, in case she needed the comfort again. He wouldn’t invade her boundaries this time, in case she didn’t need physical comfort.

“These animals, why are they hurting them?” Diana asked suddenly.

Hal glanced at where she was looking and felt something twist in his heart at the sight of the horses stuck in the mud.

“Because they need to move quick,” Charlie answered, “like us.”

Diana picked up her pace, “but this is not the way, I could help them.”

“There’s no time, come on woman!”

He felt himself tense at Charlie’s words. In this time, he knew it wasn’t considered offensive, but referring to Diana like that rubbed him the wrong way. Hal was about to say something when he saw the stress on Diana’s face. This was no the battle to fight in this time.

She was running towards a wounded soldier, “that man, he’s wounded.”

“There is nothing that we can do about it, Diana. We must keep moving.”

Hal felt the ring surge. It would be so easy to lift these men to the nearest hospital, save their lives. He couldn’t risk losing Jim or Diana and not finding them. He needed to make sure that Jim survived and got back onto the Enterprise, and he was clinging onto Diana as a substitute for his lost life.

It wasn’t fair to her, he knew.

They made it to a trench and Hal had to use a wall to hold himself upright at the conditions. He could make out the smell of rotting flesh and feces, on top of a distinct smell of infection.

Quickly he regained his composure and pushed into the trench. Up ahead Diana and Jim were talking about something as they made their way through the soldiers. An artillery shell landed close to the trench and Hal pressed himself against the wall like he saw everyone else do. Dirt rained down on him, and his ears rang from the sound.

Hal was the first to notice that a civilian had caught Diana’s attention. He could make out a couple of words, his ring translating slower since he wasn’t actively using it. But he didn’t need the translation, it was clear enough that she was begging for a savior.

“Diana we have to go,” Jim walked back after finally noticing that Diana wasn’t next to him.

“No, we have to help these people.”

“We have to stay on mission.”

Hal stood by Diana, “they need help.”

“The next safe crossing is a day away,” Chief argued.

“What are we waiting for?” Charlie yelled.

He could tell that the marksman was getting stressed by being under heavy fire again, but Hal was in agreement. They needed to help these people, timeline be damned. These people needed a hero.

“We cannot leave without helping them,” Diana stated, “these people are dying.”

Hal took a step back, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. He wondered why Diana had gone into her shell for so many years, she wanted to help people.

“They have nothing to eat. The village enslaved she said. Women and children-”

“I understand that,” Jim replied.

Hal knew for a fact that Jim Kirk would have grabbed a gun and charged across the field the moment that he heard starving and enslavement in the same sentence. He didn’t know the full story, but Jim didn’t let people suffer for the overall good of the mission. It was something that he admired about the Captain, it was a trait that Barry had.

Diana seemed to agree with his thoughts, and she started getting more annoyed. Hal lost track of the conversation as another shell landed too close for comfort.

“This is No Man’s Land Diana, this means no man can cross it.”

 _Except she isn’t a man._ Hal thought to himself.

Jim pressed on, “this battalion has been here for nearly a year and they barely gained an inch. All right? Because on the other side, there are a bunch of Germans pointing machine guns at every square inch of this place. This is not something you can cross. This is not possible.”

Hal ignored the rest of the conversation, he had a feeling he knew how this was going to go. Diana was digging her heels into the ground. Cautiously, Hal climbed the side of the trench and peered over the side. No Man’s Land looked desolate like nothing could survive there even after the war.

“We can’t save everyone in this war.”

He tensed at the words. It was something that heroes used to comfort themselves when too many civilians lives were lost because they couldn’t stop the villain in time or there was a natural disaster that they could do nothing about. They hadn’t even tried to do anything yet. Hal turned around to give Jim a piece of his mind when he saw Diana turning around and pull her hair out from it updo.

A grin formed on his face. _There she is._

She tossed off her coat after adorning her tiara, and once more Hal was struck breathless because this was his Diana. The Wonder Woman that he had looked up to for so many years.

He chuckled at Jim’s panicked, “Diana!”

Hal watched curiously as the first few bullets came towards her. She deflected them easily and started to pick up speed. Once he was sure that she was taking all of the fire he rushed out after her power up her ring. He ran several yards behind her in his Green Lantern costume. As much as he wanted to help take the brunt of the fire, he knew that Diana had to do this herself. He could take out some of the Germans when they got near enough that he could make out individual targets.

 The moment that Diana got pinned down by machine-gun fire Hal rushed into the trench, taking out the gun before moving to disable the soldier. The rest of their merry band of travelers were shooting the ones that weren’t preoccupied the with the brawling Green Lantern. Diana leapt into the trench and took out the second machine gun and several Germans stupid enough to try and shoot her.

She shouted something to Jim, who Hal just realized had climbed into the bunker and then she was leaping. He took a second to realize that they were running towards the village now. Hal followed after her, keeping his aura raised, and pulling some of the fire to him as he flew slightly behind where Diana was running.

They pressed themselves against a wall.

“Stay here, I’ll go ahead,” she ordered.

Jim looked at the others before he nodded their agreement. Diana charged in, and then Hal did only seconds afterward. He knew that Diana could take out the battalion herself, but he wanted to be of some help in this mission. Once he figured out where she had gone he went in the opposite direction. Cleaning out the edges of town.

He could make out the German’s cries of “demon.” It was something that he was unused to, but he supposed that it was fair enough to people who hadn’t grown up in the age of superheroes, or even in the time of the JSA’s peak popularity.

Hal used unformed constructs to knock the soldiers out. He knew that he should probably kill them. Diana had no hesitation about that, but Hal had killed enough in his lifetime. Besides no one but the other soldier in this town would believe that they had been taken out by a growing green man.

When the bell tower crumbled Hal rushed towards the center of town in alarm and then slowed when he heard the cheering. He touched down and let the power from his ring fade, grinning. He slid next to where their group was in the crowd. Jim sent him an appreciative nod. Then the crowd seemed to notice them as their saviors and they were surrounded by people thanking them in various different languages. Hal was struggling to keep up with the translations provided by the ring.

The initial rush eventually died down and Hal was able to distance himself from the crowd. He was grateful for their praise, but he hadn’t done that much. It also made him think of how Barry, while awkward about it soaked up the spotlight or how Clark always had something inspirational to say to the crowd. Gratitude was rare for him unless it was given in the pretense that he was a member of the league on a mission. The civilizations he helped expected Green Lanterns to solve their problems and Coast City got tired of him bringing the villains to the city. As if any other Hero hub wasn’t the same way.

Diana came over to him and gripped his wrist gently, tugging at it. He raised an eyebrow at her, “what?

“A man, he wants to take our picture. He said it would be a great honor for him,” Diana explained.

“Oh,” Hal said and suddenly Diana was pulling him.

They got settled with Diana in the middle and him on the edge. He tried to angle his face in a way that it would create doubt that it was him in the photo. The last thing his future-self needed was to explain how he was in a picture he didn’t remember taking.

After that, they broke off into small groups. The locals kept pushing them around and giving them gifts in thanks. They spent the rest of the day helping with cleanup, something Hal had never done before. He was grateful that one the innkeeper was allowing them free room and board for the night. Camping wasn’t his favorite thing in the world, especially with the cooling weather.

It was probably going to snow.

As the night wore on, Hal could tell that it was going to be a celebration. He hung around the edges, taking any offered drink with a smile and sipped at it. Part of him wanted to get drunk, let the numbness of alcohol take away the tumultuous feelings he’s had since he first saw Diana on the beach. Maybe he’d come to his senses and know that this world, despite all of the great and good people in it, was going to end and maybe he would recall fully what he had done and know that he had no reason to have these people’s gratitude.

He had a new life. It was in the stars like he loved and he was with people that he could eventually grow to love. They weren’t Barry or Oliver or Diana or Clark or Carol, they were their own people (great in their own way), but he didn’t want to taint them with the expectations of the paragons that he knew.

Jim was dancing with Diana as the snow fell, and Hal twisted his ring. His two lives coming together in the oddest of ways. He wondered how different Steve Trevor actually was from Jim and whether or not Alan would ever look into his appearance in World War I. What he wouldn’t give to be there when that confusion happened.

The pair broke apart and Diana wandered over to him. Hal tilted his head, wondering if he had done something wrong to offend her in the past couple of hours. He thought that he had been doing well.

“Alan, may I ask you a question?”

He raised his mug as an affirmative.

Diana cocked her eyebrow, but seemed to interpret the gesture correctly, “earlier, you followed me into battle, but did not follow me, why?”

“I knew you could handle yourself. I was trying to avoid us getting encircled,” Hal responded honestly.

“But then when the people thanked you, you did not like it,” Diana pressed.

“Not really. I’m not a hero.”

“You are!” Diana said, “you did not hesitate or question the need to save these people. You fought with skill and honor and bravery. How are you not one?”

Hal shrugged, feeling more than awkward, “I was, once. I’m not a hero anymore.” _You’ll agree with me someday._

Diana put her hand on his shoulder, “you are a good man Alan Scott.”

 With that, she turned around to rejoin Steve. Hal looked around before powering up his ring to slip into his room on the second story. Diana praising him... how times will change. These people still thought of him as a hero, even though he knew that he would fall.

* * *

  
" _Harold Jordan of Earth, we summon you.”_

**** _Hal frowned in confusion but willed himself to appear at the Seat of the Guardians. Unlike last time, they were all in attendance. He crossed his arms and waited to see what they would say._

_" **We have discussed your request,”** one said._

_Despite it being a dream or a spiritual event, he felt the temperature lower in the room several degrees. They were going to reject it. Say it was too risky. Not worth sending_ him _back. The task would be passed on to someone worthier. Maybe they’d just come clean in the future._

_" **There is no one worthier than a man who wishes to save his world. Even when it's at great cost to himself.”**_

**** _Hal raised his eyes, **“what do you mean?”**_

**_"Should you return to the future, at the spot you determined. You will not be considered a hero. Perhaps not again.”_ **

_He had known that already. It was expected._

_**“You also know of the threat that Nekron carries. You are willing to do whatever it would take to make sure that he does not rise, or if he should rise you will stop at nothing to prevent the universe from ending.”** _

_It was the Guardians’ way of saying that he was likely going to die trying to divert the course that his universe was going to take. It was such a small price, **“so you are going to let me try and save everything?”**_

**_“We are. But you must not let anyone know your true mission.”_ **

_That was a fair enough stipulation. More than likely, someone would twist it in a way that makes it look like he was just doing it for himself to try and get back on the good side of Earth. He had made that mistake when he had reignited the sun. People had thought that he had done it to escape his consequence from Parallax. When the simple truth was that he couldn’t live with what he had done._

_" **Let me stop this war first. Please.”**_

_**“We shall send you home when the time comes.”** _

_Hal wondered where his home was._

* * *

Hal woke up and there were tears running down his face. He could make a difference. Save the universe, his universe. A laugh escaped his lips that sounded more like a sob.

The knocking at his door had him bolting upright and rubbing his eyes to erase any signs that he had been crying. There was still a mad scientist to stop and an armistice that had to be signed. He got dressed quickly and moved to stand with Sammy and Charlie as they waited for the rest of their merry band. Apparently, the village had shown more of their gratitude by giving them supplies and transportation.

He was not looking forward to riding a horse, one of the horses nickered at him in apparent agreement.

When Diana and Jim walked out together Hal was impressed. He had known there was a man that captured Diana’s heart so well that she still had trouble loving another, but he hadn’t thought it would have been Steve Trevor of all people. The real Steve Trevor must have been someone spectacular.

Jim looked at the horses in confusion.

Sammy answered, “the villagers gave them to us.”

“A most gracious gift,” Diana smiled warmly.

“And they call us heroes.”

Hal winced at the word, Diana didn’t miss it.

“You are,” she said while staring right into his eyes.

He stepped away to regain some of his composure as Jim told their companions that they could leave if they so desired. Hal almost wanted them to, he thought of them as friends and he couldn’t watch any more die. Not with this newfound hope in him, that he could save this world. His ring sparked with power, similar to how it did when Barry wore blue.

During their travel, Hal rode next to Diana and pretended that Jim wasn’t talking about them.

“Your mood has improved, Alan,” she said.

“I guess it has. There are some things worth fighting for. No matter the cost.”

“There is, that is why we must stop Ares.”

Hal almost slipped from the horse’s saddle, “and how do we do that? You have the sword, but he’s a god.”

Diana pondered the question, “we can find a way, your ring, it makes you stronger. Ares will not expect it to be two on one, but I must get the finishing blow.”

“I have no problem being the distraction while you wait for an opening,” Hal replied.

“No, we will fight him together,” she nodded.

He nodded back. There was nothing more to say.

Hal had expected Diana to not listen to Jim again when he told her to stay and hide, but he wasn’t sure why he was being dragged along in this mess. Diana had stolen some wealthy woman’s dress, and he was left to scrounge up a German uniform similar to Jim’s.

“What do you expect to do?” Hal whispered after they had gotten through the checkpoint.

“I will kill Ares, he will not be expecting me.”

“A German general, in their high command, Diana, this will be a political nightmare,” Hal replied, wincing as he sounded like Jim.

“Once he is killed-”

“They will be freed from his influence, I know,” Hal cut her off, “but this might cause another disaster. There were plenty of wars before Ares got involved.”

“It was his influence.”

He didn’t believe that was the case, but he wasn’t going to argue with her. Maybe she was right and they were going to get through this without anyone finding out that the Allies had sent in a group of ragtag soldiers to try and kill a general. It hadn’t been their luck, but, maybe.

As they entered the party, Hal scanned the room for Jim. He was near a woman that he could only assume was this Doctor Poison. Diana had locked eyes with Ludendorff and was heading straight towards him. Hal edged towards the side of the room, keeping a slightly slower pace than Diana. He would let her lead for now, but if he needed to he would stop her.

Jim had noticed her as well which was helpful, but he didn’t move away from his conversation with the woman. Hal pressed himself against the wall trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible. He couldn’t do a German accent well, and his mastery of the language was merely conversational. Not that he expected to have a deep conversation, he was just sure they would notice he wasn’t a native speaker.

Ludendorff grabbed Diana and they began to spin in a circle. Hal kept his fist clenched in case he did need to use his ring. They appeared to be talking about something, and he couldn’t make out the words, but Diana looked to be growing more and tenser the longer they danced.

Suddenly Ludendorff was walking away and Diana was reaching up towards her back, and _how the hell was she holding her sword there?_ Thankfully Jim was the first to react, and he grabbed her hand and spun them around as casually as possible. The few people that had noticed Diana’s sudden movement simply moved on with their lives.

Convinced that Jim wouldn’t let her go for some time, Hal followed after Ludendorff. The General was standing outside by the row of chairs, directing people to sit. He made a move to get near enough to him when the cannon on the roof fired something. Using his ring, he scanned the canister to see if it was something more than just fireworks. The data he got back confirmed that it wasn’t. It had to be the gas!

Looking around he saw that no one was looking in his direction and he powered up his ring. Maybe he could do something.

Hal raced after it, but his start had been too late and the gas hit in the center of town. He quickly put up a barrier to hopefully stop the spread and allow for some of the villagers to escape. Below him, he saw that Diana was arriving at the scene as well. Hal touched down and frowned when he saw that no one was running away. _Had they all been in the town square? No..._

He felt his construct weaken with the slip in his concentration, but he quickly strengthened it.

“Alan! Put down your barrier. There could still be survivors!” Diana yelled at him.

He touched down on the ground, “Diana-”

“Do it! We must save them!”

As much as he didn’t want to do this, he let the construct fade and let Diana run into the village. He couldn’t believe that he couldn’t have saved them. An entire village dead, one that he had just been in, ate their food, stayed in their bed. Hal tugged at his hair.

“Diana!” Jim yelled, running towards the edge of the gas cloud, and the closer he got the more he coughed.

Hal rushed over to his side, making sure he didn’t try to take the plunge a second time. Slowly Diana emerged from the smoke. He let out a breath of relief that he didn’t know that he was holding.

“They are dead. They are all dead,” she began, “I could have saved them.”

Then with more strength and anger, “I could have saved them if it weren’t for you! You stopped me from killing Ares!”

“And you!” She turned towards Hal, “why did you put the barrier up, you trapped them!”

“No, I thought that if I stopped it from spreading more people could escape, I didn’t realize that they had hall been in the center of town,” Hal defended himself weakly.

_Always making mistakes Jordan._

“Diana,” Jim reached out towards her.

“No! Stay away from me!” She slapped the arm away and stepped back, “I understand everything now. It isn’t just the Germans that Ares had corrupted. It's you too! All of you!”

Hal flinched at the word _corrupted._ Instead, he looked towards the distance and saw smoke, he frowned at the pattern it was making.

“It's the Chief. He followed Ludendorff. Follow the smoke! _”_

Diana charged off on her horse, and Hal powered up his ring. He sent a look towards Jim and saw that the other was heading towards a forgotten motorcycle. After he rolled his eyes he shot off into the air. As he made his way to a safe altitude his communicator chirped.

This time when he opened it, he didn’t hear any static.

“This is Lieutenant Uhura of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Do you read me?”

“Yes!” Hal cheered, “Uhura, it's me, Hal!”

“Hal?” Uhura’s voice went a pitch higher, “are you all right? How’s the captain?”

“I’m fine,” Hal replied, “Jim has been memory spliced. I don’t think he knows that he’s Jim Kirk. Physically he’s fine.”

"Where are you?” Uhura replied, in the background, Hal could make out the sound of someone grumbling. Probably McCoy.

“Belgium. 1920, and we’re in my original dimension.” Hal answered, his previous messages seemed to have not gone through.

“Fascinating,” Spock spoke suddenly.

“Yeah, how’s the transporter situation?” Hal replied, making himself go higher into the cloud bank.

“It’ll take time to calibrate the coordinates,” Scotty mumbled, “but not too long.”

“Good, we need an hour minimum on this end.”

“What are you two doing?” Scotty sounded suspicious.

Hal smirked, “saving the world.”

With that, he closed the communicator and dove below the clouds. He could barely hear the motorcycle, and he skimmed the treetops until he saw a flash of gold. Hal turned towards that, Jim and the soldiers could deal with the Germans they encountered. Diana was about to engage in battle with a god.  It was possible she might need help.

While she pursued Ludendorff, Hal stayed airborne, picking off soldiers attempting to climb the tower to get to Diana. Behind him the others were arriving, finally. He turned his head when he heard shouting on the roof. Diana had the general on the ground, and with a wave of power, she plunged the sword into his chest.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about her killing someone, that was their number one rule, but he hadn’t complained so far and he wasn’t about to start. The no killing came with Superman and Batman and Flash, the heroes that could uphold their own moral codes.

Diana was standing on the edge of the roof, and Hal looked out to the airstrip excepting the Germans to look as though they were coming out of a daze. The production didn’t cease. Hal frowned and floated down to the roof next to Diana.

“I don’t understand, they can stop, why aren’t they stopping?”

Hal opened his mouth, but Jim’s yelling cut him off.

“Diana!” He shouted wheeling out with his gun pointed towards them.

“I killed him. I killed Ares. Why are they not stopping?” She asked him.

“I don’t know,” Jim answered. “Maybe it’s because it's them, maybe it's because people aren’t always good.”

Hal winced. The words hitting too close to home. Steve Trevor was one cynical bastard, and Hal understood that but even he knew that good could be seen in anyone. So long as one looked hard enough. The league had taken him back, but they had always given the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Steve Trevor had the right idea. He shook his head, this last chance he got, he wasn’t going to throw it away because he thought that he wasn’t good.

He was a Green Lantern, a Hero of Earth.

Steve Trevor had the wrong idea.

“No! It can not be!” Diana cried, “they were killing each other. People they could not see. Children... Children!”

She took a shuddering breath, “it had to be him. It cannot be them!”

Jim looked lost and Hal wanted to jump in, but the words were stuck in this throat. People still fought wars, each other, even in his time. Ares may have made the violence worse, but it never went away. He couldn’t find his voice to speak, he couldn’t take away Diana’s faith.

“Diana, people... I...” even Jim still at a loss for words. Rather Steve was, because he knew that Jim would be able to dispel her doubts.

“My mother was right. She said the world of men do not deserve you. They don't deserve our help, Steve.”

Jim set his jaw and tried to talk over her. Hal swallowed thickly, he’d never seen Diana like this in all of the years that he knew her. He had heard from Barry in the early days of the league that Diana hadn’t been willing to be seen as a leader or a hero, but he doubted it was anything like this.

“It’s not about what we deserve!”

“He’s right,” Hal stepped in, but he was ignored by the both of them.

“It's about what you believe. You don't think I get it,” Jim paused and stared Diana in the eyes, “after what I've seen out there? You don't think I wish I could tell you that I was one bad guy to blame? It's not! We are all to blame.”

“I am not,” Diana scowled.

“But maybe I am! Please,” Jim was begging, “If you believe that this  
war should stop...if you want to stop it...help me stop it right now. Because...if-if you don't, there will be thousands more. Please, please come with me.”

Diana was shaking her head.

“I have to go,” Jim was saying as he heard the yelling of his companions, “I have to go.”

She watched him go with a haunted look in her eyes, and then she turned towards Hal.

“I’m going to help them,” he said finally, “because Steve is right, it’s not about what they deserve.”

“How can you say that, Alan, the horrors-”

“I have to hope, hope that we can make a difference ” Hal paused and thought about a red S, “I have to have hope because sometimes that’s the only thing that can make a difference.”

“You said you weren’t a hero,” Diana replied.

Hal smiled a private smile, “heroes are born every day.”

With that, he leapt off of the tower powering his ring up to soften his landing. He followed the other’s lead as they dressed in the uniforms, assuming that he would catch up with their plan. They snuck over to where a majority of the gas seemed to be gathering. Hal had to let out a whistle at the site of the plane. While it couldn’t hold up to a javelin, he knew that it was an impressive machine.

“What is that?” Someone whispered behind him.

Jim answered, “the future.”

Hal laughed to himself. _If you only knew Jim._

The told Sammy to sneak aboard and see what he could find out, while Chief went into the office to find out where they were going. Hal wanted to ground it, but there was the possibility that the plane was already rigged to explode, and they couldn’t risk it going off on the ground. Not with so many settlements nearby.

When the tower they had left Diana on exploded, Hal’s heart leapt in his throat. He was powering up his ring and heading towards it before he had even finished the thought.

“Diana!” Steve had yelled from behind him, and then he started yelling for the rest of the team.

Hal formed a catcher’s mitt to catch Diana before she hit the ground. She climbed off of it, not removing her eyes from the man walking towards them. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that it was Sir Patrick and that this wind was unnatural.

“Is that Ares?” He yelled over the gust.

“The entire time!” She yelled back, swinging her lasso out towards him.

“You have so much to learn,” Ares told her, and then turned his attention towards Hal, “and you? A Green Lantern? What hope do you have against a god?”

 _How does_ he _know about me?_

Diana pulled the lasso back and Hal could tell what she was doing, he floated a few feet in the air, and just as the pillar came around Hal anchored Ares to the ground. The pillar struck true and the god was sent flying. He sent a grin towards Diana, and she nodded.

She took off just as Ares was recovering, Hal right behind her. Ares started yanking the ground out from underneath them, and nearly as fast as he could Hal began to replace it or give Diana an alternate path that wouldn’t cause her to lose too much momentum. _Thank god I spent so much time as Barry’s partner._

They weren’t aware of the giant island of torn up land above them until it was nearly crashing down around them, Hal touched down just ahead of Diana and formed a dome, slowly making it a sphere as more ground got ripped up. His shield nearly shattered with the impact. He grit his teeth and reinforced it. Asteroids had more force than this and were bigger and his shield had never failed him then.

Once he was sure the entire thing had come down, he started pushing his shield out to make room. Diana seemed to sense what he was doing and crouched low. Hal suddenly expanded the shield and stones tumbled down and Ares was standing down the airstrip.

Diana rushed him and smacked into him before Hal had even realized that she had left. Quickly he caught up and formed a mallet to strike Ares back to Diana. She held out her arm like she was flexing and caught Ares in the throat flipping him backward.

Before she could recover, Diana was yanked to the ground and Hal cursed as Ares somehow found his footing, still holding on to her ankle. He tossed Diana into nearby crates before he sent electricity towards Hal who was knocked away by the force. He crashed into the ground, but Ares was on him grabbing him by his throat.

“Is it true what they say about you?” Ares grinned, “that you are without fear?”

Hal tried to reply with some snarky answer but Ares squeezed his hand and suddenly the air was scarce.

“I smell its taint on you.”

“Release him!” Diana shouted.

Hal turned his gaze, to see that Diana had thrown one of the crates towards them. The lack of air was making it difficult to concentrate and he was sure that he would be able to form a construct in time. Ares stopped the projectile with a hand, and belatedly Hal realized that it had been full of grenades.

He was suddenly being hurled through the air and smacking into Diana, who stumbled back, but somehow managed to catch him. Hal was impressed with the multitasking until he saw that Ares had pulled the pins in the grenades and was launching them back at them. Diana grabbed the closest thing to them, dropping Hal in the process (who was still trying to remember how to breathe), and tossed it back.

The explosion had taken them both by surprise, and a shield had formed around him in instinct. Hal looked to where Diana had landed to see that they were closer to the airbase, and Jim of all people was running towards them, well, Diana.

Hal was attempting to make sure that he still had full use of all of his extremities when he finally caught on to what Jim was going to do. He cursed. _If I can keep him from dying, this might keep the timeline intact. Mostly intact. Jim can go back to the ship. Steve Trevor still is considered dead._

It hit him then, that he didn’t actually know what happened to Steve Trevor when they beamed onto his plane and Jim assumed his identity unwillingly. He’d ponder that at a less dire time.

Diana was holding her ears and he realized that while his shield had kept most of the damage minimal and Diana was physically unharmed, she probably couldn’t hear. He would be surprised if ringing in the ears was all she got from that. He pushed himself off from that ground to move towards her.

Ares had survived the blast, which didn’t survive Hal, and Diana looked to be distracted by the watch in her hand. Cautiously he reached out and touched her, and then pointed towards where Ares was doing something... attaching molten metal to his skin.

“Ouch,” Hal muttered to himself

Diana gripped his arm tightly, and the watch tighter in her other hand, “Alan, please, save him!”

“Ares-”

“I can handle him. I must defeat him,” Diana replied, looking more sure of herself, “you are the hero, you save people.”

Hal nodded, once he was sure that he got Jim clear, he would come back and help Diana. There had to be a reason for Jim to have taken the plane into the air, and Hal had a bad feeling he knew what it was. Usually, there was only one way that this played out.

He shot off into the air, pulling out his communicator, “Scotty!”

“I’m here, give me a second-”

“There’s only going to be one to beam up, lock onto my communicator!” Hal yelled over the wind.

“If you don’t have one-”

“I know!” Hal  replied, “you can only get one of us before our time runs out.”

“Hal-”

“On my signal,” he kept the communicator open.

Part of him felt bad that his last transmission with the crew was him misleading them, but he couldn’t risk them coming to after him. If they decided that he was worth it, Jim probably would, because he’d think that it was his fault that Hal got left behind. He understood that feeling. He caught up with the plane and pulled open the door. The shelves were lined with gas, and he thought that he could make out a timmer.

Jim turned around aiming the gun, only to lower it when he saw that it was Hal. He took a deep breath and held open the communicator.

“Thank you for everything,” he said, “and make sure that Jim knows I don’t blame him.”

“What-”

Hal lowered the communicator and strode towards where Jim was looking at him with a mix of alarm and confusion.

“They’ll explain everything.” He pressed the opening communicator into Jim’s hand, and then raised it, “one to beam up.”

“Aye, have the lock... Energize!”

He stepped back as soon as he heard the familiar sound and grabbed the gun out of Jim’s other hand. Once the captain had vanished, Hal turned back towards the rest of the plane.

Truthfully he was surprised that they had stayed airborne with there being no door. Early planes were truly a mystery to him. With a deep breath, he pushed the throttle as far as he could and tilted the plane's nose so that it was nearly vertical. Then Hal went to the door and aimed the gun.

_This is going to suck._

He pulled the trigger, and there was a second before the gas ignited and he was pushed out of the plane. Hal let himself freefall, with his ring powered down, for a couple of seconds before he powered it back up. He didn’t decrease his speed but controlled his fall aiming directly towards where Ares was.

Only to pull up short when an aura of white light enveloped the area. Where Diana had been previously trapped she was standing and suddenly a bullet shattered the silence. Hal turned to where a group of Germans was standing, one with his gun pointed stupidly towards Diana. She was rushing them, all that he could see were the bodies that fell in her wake.

“Diana! Stop!” He yelled.

At the same time, Ares was talking, “yes, Diana! Take them all! Finally, you see. Look at this world. Mankind did this, not me.”

“Don’t listen to him Diana, stop this!” Hal was standing in front of her trying to protect the remaining soldiers. His constructs would shatter eventually, but hopefully, he could talk her out of this grief-induced battle haze before too long.”

“They are ugly...filled with hatred...weak...Just like your captain Trevor. Gone and left you nothing. And for what? Pathetic! He deserved to burn.”

Hal snapped, and while maintaining his shield sent a bolt towards where Ares was standing. The god seemed surprised that he had been knocked off balance. Diana used the temporary distraction to charge Ares and get him on the ground, wailing on him. He stood to the side, unsure of when he should step in, or if he should.

Suddenly Diana was flying backward, and Hal couldn’t form a construct fast enough to cushion her fall. Ares took his distraction and punched him once in the torso shattering a rib and then tossing him over to where Diana was. He landed roughly and felt another rib give. Hal coughed weakly and waved off Diana’s concern.

“Look at her and tell me I'm wrong. She is the perfect example of these humans and unworthy of your sympathy in every way. Destroy her, Diana. You know that she deserves it. That they all do.”

He blinked in surprise as a woman was pulled out of her car and towards them, and he realized that this was Doctor Poison but her mask was gone. Hal didn’t have much time to think about why she was still here because Diana was holding a tank above her head and turning towards the woman.

Using the last bit of his will, he pushed himself from the ground and stumbled over to half stand in front of Doctor Poison. His chest was burning, and he let his mask fade.

“Diana, don’t do it,” he pleaded. Hal wouldn’t watch his friend fall, “don’t give into hate.”

She looked at him and the woman he was protecting and then Diana closed her eyes. Hal wasn’t sure why, but he was going to keep talking, maybe he was getting through to her.

“I know what it feels like, to lose something you love, but you can’t give into that hatred. Worse things will come of it,” he said, gasping for breath, “remember that love, and hold onto it tightly.”

She smiled then and looked down at him. The smiled changed into something that Hal didn’t recognize, but then realized that was the same look he got from her whenever he talked about saving a group of children from a rampaging warlord, despite a broken femur. He’d never had the courage to ask what that smile meant.

Diana was turning then, and he could hear retreating footsteps behind him. The tank was tossed aside, and Hal rolled out of the way in order to get a better view of the fight. He made a low light construct to brace his ribs, in case he needed to fight again.

He watched as Ares sent crudely formed swords, Diana, only to see them stopped and disintegrated once they got close enough. Hal couldn’t help but grin, this was Diana when she wasn’t pulling her punches. Part of him wanted to know what they were saying and the other part of them wondered what was going on with the crew back on the Enterprise.

Once he fixed the future-past he knew he would slip from their mind, and have things be fixed, because if Nekron doesn’t succeed there would be no reason for Last Light. He’d be left with the memory of them, but they wouldn’t know that he had been born.

It was a fair trade he thought, carry the thoughts of the what-ifs if he hadn’t been able to come back to his own dimension and given permission to try and save it.

Hal blinked once Diana was in the sky with lightning arcing off of her. He snickered to himself _that’s Shazam’s or Barry’s thing._ Though, he found that he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. His eyes watered at the brightness, and when Ares received a lightning bolt to the chest he knew that it was over. This war had been won.

He let himself drop back down the ground, and let out a long breath. Wincing as it injured his ribs, and he laughed. Green Lantern had helped save the world.

“Guardians,” he said, knowing he didn’t have to tell the ring to contact them, “my mission is done here.”

* * *

_Hal wasn’t sure how many days had passed before he was pulled back into the vision of the Seat of the Guardians, He’d mostly been sleeping as they traveled back to London in hopes to reach the Armistice Day celebrations. The team wanted to honor Steve._

**_“Hal Jordan of Earth,”_ ** _one spoke, **“you have done what you could in order to protect the timeline, as a result, we will grant you a boon.”**_

_He knew that this was their way of getting around their own laws of not meddling in the future to change it. Now that they had said they would do it, Hal could ask for it, or anything. This would be how he could change becoming Parallax._

_But he wouldn’t, that could ruin the timeline._

**_“The boon that I wish for is to be allowed to return to my time, in order to help stop the invasion of Nekron when it occurs.”_ **

**_“It is granted. To which date do you wish to return?”_ **

_Hal thought about it, he was sure that the Guardians had already come up with a way to keep his body in the sun without completely preventing his return. Dates ran through his head, but the one that stuck out the most was the date prior to Ollie dying in that plane. He knew that the archer was resurrected, but he didn’t think that he could do this without an ally._

_Waiting until Barry returned was too long, and he was back by then. As Spectre, but that would be a harder issue to bend around._

**_“The day before Oliver Queen died.”_ **

_The Guardians would read his thoughts and know when he was thinking of. The nodded and then the vision fell silent as they talked amongst themselves. Likely to finish the plans of not ruining the universe._

**_“That date is permissible.”_ **

_Hal nodded and looked towards Ganthet, **“how do I go back?”**_

**_“Use the ring as if you were going to make a wormhole, think of the place you want to go to, and the rest will be done by our Will.”_ **

_That was easy enough, Hal inclined his head, **“thank you, for this.”**_

* * *

He left in the early hours of the morning. Sammy had gotten them a place to stay, where they could all be close to each other. Steve’s death had hurt the group badly, and Hal was worried the longer that he stayed there the more likely he was going to slip. His last lie was a little piece of paper, under the unofficial award of service one of the parliament had given them.

_Everyone,_

_I am sorry I had to depart without saying goodbye. The American Air Force wants me to report to them in person and give full mission details. I don’t know what I’ll be doing after that. Hopefully, we won’t lose touch. Thank you for everything._

_-Alan Scott._

Only when he was on the edge of town, and he was sure that there was no one around to see him he held up the ring. He thought about where he should go, the air base was a possibility. Barry’s grave... there was always one hero there. The Watchtower, and appear in the middle of all of his (at the time) former friends. Queen’s mansion, would make the most sense, as he was sure that Ollie would be happy to see him.

For some reason, he didn’t think about any of those places when he opened the wormhole. He thought about the village that he had saved and then let down in the space of twenty-four hours. The place where he felt like a hero again for the first time in many years.

Hal stepped through, and after the dizzying velocities of traveling in this way, he stumbled out into the courtyard. After 100 years it was still abandoned, thankfully someone had the decency to bury the townsfolk or the years in the elements had turned their bones to dust. He’d rather think that the former occurred.

Being back in his time was weird. It could sense the familiarity of it. Guy and John and Kyle’s wills buzzed around the back of his head like they used to. Hal took a couple of seconds to focus on Kyle’s specifically. It was good to feel that will again, alive and intact. If he could notice them, then he was sure that his return had been like a beacon to them.

He wondered if he should go to them. Ollie was the person that he needed to see, but he couldn’t make his body move. This had seemed like a good idea, to come back and save his world, but now that he was here, he was remembering how everyone treated him when he came back the first time. Like he was infected.

“Hal?” A voice rang out behind him.

“That’s me,” he replied turning in his spot to see Diana.

There wasn’t much difference between the Diana that he had fought next to and this one, except for a much sterner face. Hal suddenly felt an ache in his chest that had nothing to do with his still injured ribs.

“You died.”

She said it simply, an admittance of a fact, there was no hurt or grief behind that tone. Hal winced, he hadn’t earned that from her. Or anyone. Not after what Parallax had made him do.

“Yeah, her- people in our line of work don’t stay dead,” he replied, attempting to keep his voice neutral.

Diana tilted her head towards him, Hal changed his thought this was Wonder Woman in front of him, the battle-hardened hero who had learned her truths.

She walked towards him, her hands near her lasso. Hal didn’t comment, she had probably already called the league. They didn’t know that he wasn’t going to go dark side again and try to kill everyone. He missed the days that it was just them disliking him because their personalities clashed, and he knew now that he and Wonder Woman could make a hell of a team when they worked together.

“Are you-“ She halted her question, “you’re truly Hal Jordan? Not parallax?”

“I am,” Hal replied.

That seemed to finalize something for her, she let the tenseness out of her arm and stood next to him. There was a weight in her eyes as she looked at him. Hal was facing his judgement day.

“There was a man I knew once, a long time ago,” she began. “He claimed that he was not a hero, but everything he did belied that.”

Hal frowned in confusion, but Wonder Woman kept speaking, “he would have laid his life down for a stranger. We fought side by side in this village, followed me into battle with not a thought of himself. When they called him a hero and a savior, he said he was no longer a hero. I wondered, what a man as good as this one had done to fall.”

“The villagers were murdered a day after we saved them. He had tried to help them but ended up perhaps trapping him,” Wonder Woman sighed sadly, “I had thought that he had trapped them. He explained that he had been trying to save them by containing the gas.”

She turned to stare him in the eyes then, “he was a good man, who eventually saw himself as a hero again after he stopped letting his ghosts control him.”

He wasn’t sure what the point of telling him this story was, he had been there. Wonder Woman had probably figured it out by now, that he had been in her past but not told her about it. That had to have been uncomfortable to the younger version of himself in this timeline. The story was done, but he couldn’t see where he was supposed to take the moral from it.

“If you are truly Hal Jordan, why come back?” Diana tilted her head, “surely you were given a choice.”

“I have one last mission,” Hal said as steadily as he could, “the only way I can atone for the sin I’ve committed.”

“As Parallax?”

“My soul was saved from damnation for a reason.”       

Diana nodded, “perhaps. The others may not be as welcoming as I.”

_Believe me. I know._

* * *

Nekron came on schedule, he did his best to tell everyone that something was coming. Especially when the heroes started to be resurrected. Most of them wrote him off, the rift Parallax had made was never mended. Not that Hal particularly cared, it wasn’t his job to have friends. It was his job to stop Nekron from ending the universe.

Ollie hadn’t, not completely, but he didn’t fully believe that it was as ominous as Hal was making it out to be. Barry had given him worried looks after he came back, but he believed that there could be something since he came back as the Black Flash.

He swallowed his words and bit his cheek as he kept getting brushed off until Nekron was standing on the shell of Coast City raising his people once again. No one apologized for doubting him and he didn’t think to tell them that he told him so. Hal just kept fighting and looked for that opening.

They had to resurrect or kill William Hand, whichever was going to sever the connection. Nekron had evidently sensed Hal’s intention and was keeping him nearby. The Lantern sighed and looked around at his fellow white lanterns. He had to give Nekron a reason to go after him, to pull him away from Hand.

“Black Hand,” he told Barry, “he’s the catalyst. You-”

“Sever the connection between them Nekron doesn’t have his foothold!” Barry finished, “but how are we going to-”

This time Hal cut him off, “I’ll make Nekron focus on me, you get the other White Lanterns to focus their attack on Hand, and then you break that battery and let the Anti-Monitor free. It should power down the rings.”

“What will happen to the dead wearing them?” Barry asked.

Hel shrugged, “the ones that were cursed will probably return to life and the dead will rest.”

Barry nodded and then bit his lip, “you’re not going to do something stupid are you?”

 _It’s not stupid. It’s worth it._ “Of course not, who do you think I am?”

“That’s what worries me,” Barry replied honestly.

Hal’s heart clenched painfully. Barry had been the only one to forgive him fully for the Parallax situation. If he had been alive, maybe he would be less likely to forgive him, but Hal would take what he could get. He was selfish that way. Instead, he grinned at his best friend.

“Don’t worry, just make sure to get rid of that battery and Hand. Everything else will work out.”

Flash sped off to where Wonder Woman and Superman were unsuccessfully beating back the Atlantean Army, and _when did Mera get a red ring?_ Hal shook his head and closed his eyes. He focused on that thread of green inside of him and pushed it out so that it changed back into a green uniform.

“Here we go,” he said to no one in particular.

Green Lantern shot up towards Nekron’s head spinning to avoid the scythe aimed to cut him in half and launched a missile construct at his head. As he expected it didn’t seem to do anything, but get his attention.

“Hal Jordan, are you so eager to die?” Nekron asked, “your heart is so filled with Will.”

He wrapped chains around Nekron’s wrist when he saw that the scythe was coming towards him again. Hal grunted in surprise when he had to exert more energy than he thought he would in order to keep the scythe from moving towards him. In the distance, he could see White Lanterns take alternating blows at William Hand.

Nekron didn’t seem to notice, his attention fully on Hal, “why come back at all? This world hates you. You could have been the greatest of my generals.”

“Zombism doesn’t look good on me,” Hal grit out.

“You will die,” Nekron stated, “you will not rise.”

Hal grinned, “why? Because you won’t be around to do it?”

That seemed to catch Nekron’s attention as he spun around, only to see that Superman had somehow slipped a white ring onto Hand’s finger. The Lord of the Unliving flickered, and Hal let out a breath that he hadn’t known he was holding. It was working. They would be saved.

Except as the attention turned towards the battery, Nekron’s gaze turned back to him. Hal’s attention slipped, in surprise. The chains around Nekron’s arm weakened, and he forced himself to concentrate to keep them from fading. That scythe would cut him in half if he let it.

He just needed to hold on for a couple more minutes.

A biting cold bit at his chest followed by a burning sear that stole his breath away. Hal looked down to see a skeletal arm connecting to his chest... no a hole in his chest. There were pinpricks on his heart, it was the strangest sensation he had ever felt. Breathing became difficult, and it felt like his heart was constricting. Something trickled from his mouth.

Hal saw the battery start to crack and shatter, and the constriction grew worse.

“Your heart is so full of Will, Hal Jordan. I wonder what it will be full of when I crush it?”

Barry turned, surprisingly slow for him, and his eyes widened in horror. His mouth was open in a silent scream. The pain in his chest grew excruciating before everything went numb and Nekron crumbled into ash. Hal found himself suddenly facing the cloudy night sky.

 _Heh. How fitting._ He thought, and suddenly his vision was filled with bright blue eyes. He blinked and tried to focus on the words coming out of Barry’s mouth.

“Hal. Hal. Hey. Stay with me,” Barry was speaking quickly, “you said you weren’t going to do something stupid.”

“I lied,” he chuckled weakly.

His coughing fits drown out what Barry was saying to him. Once he finally calmed down, he saw that other’s had entered his field of vision. Wonder Woman, Superman, Ollie. The only one that wasn’t looking at him with fear (of him... no for him _? What? Why?_ ) was Wonder Woman. It was the same look she gave him at the village.

“Help is on its way GL,” Superman’s voice wavered, and then as almost an afterthought, “thank you. You saved us all.”

Ollie turned and punched him in the chest, “don’t talk like that.”

Hal knew that if Superman was giving his gratitude then whatever was going on inside of his chest was bad. Fatal even. Not that he was surprised. He had a death god elbow deep in his chest. There were very few people that would be able to walk away from that.

“We have you, Hal, it’ll be fine,” Ollie was saying to him.

He was grateful for the comfort, but he knew that it was a lie. Diana was kneeling next to his head, and she bent further down to be by his ear.

“This is why you came back? To die?” She whispered, “all of that time, all of the talk of not being a hero, all of what you’ve suffered and endured? Just to save us?”

Hal couldn’t find his voice but nodded. He had to know if she had figured it out.

Wonder Woman pulled back to look at his face before resuming her position, “this is what you held out hope for?”

She knew. Hal knew what line she was referring to. If he could laugh, then he would’ve made a bitter melody. He had known that he was hoping to save his universe, but he hadn’t thought that he would hope to die alongside Nekron. This way left no room for any more errors, and his made his final payment to his debt to this universe.

“Green Lantern was always a hero to me,” she said, kissing his forehead as he pulled away.

Hal felt pressure behind his eyes, but he knew the tears would never fall, he didn’t have enough time left. It was by some act of something that had kept him alive this long, he should’ve died when Nekron crushed his heart. He looked at Barry, whose eyes were flickering madly like he was trying to find the answer to this. Then he looked at Ollie, who hadn’t shed a tear yet while he waited for another miracle. Superman looked saddened, but he had accepted what was going on and he knew that lying to Hal any longer would just shame him. Finally, to Diana’s eyes, they were shining, and her lips were quirked with a sad smile.

They had forgiven him, and finally, he could forgive himself.

One last shuddering breath left his chest, and his eyes slipped closed as the ring went cold on his finger. Hal Jordan had said his final goodbyes to a world that had wished him good riddance.

**Author's Note:**

> I see you've made it through the 20k, which I can't believe I wrote and didn't break it up into chapters, which I am sorry about, but it would ruin the flow if I had. I hope you enjoyed that, I really loved writing it! Please leave your thoughts and comments below! Point out any horrendous issues, because I'm only human and grammar checkers can only do so much, or if there's any glaring flaws with the content. TBH I really love the title of this story, its very fitting. Anyway, thank you for reading!  
> There's a couple of plot holes that I know I left open, but that might be because I explore them later or if anyone wants me to actually explore them. Let's see if you all catch them! There's two in particular I want to see if you guys get.


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